The present invention relates to identifying the service processing of a telephone call. More particularly, the present invention relates to identifying the service processing of an international telephone call by adding a predetermined suffix to the country code of the call""s routing number.
The present invention relates to the call processing on a telecommunications network (TN), such as the ATandT Switched Network (ASN), for outbound international calls on a Global Virtual Network Service (GVNS), such as the ATandT Global Software Defined Network (GSDN) service, where the call is from one GVNS location to another GVNS location of the same customer. A GVNS call from one GVNS location to another GVNS location (for the same customer) is known as an xe2x80x9con-netxe2x80x9d call. The type of call the present invention relates to is referred to as an Outbound International GVNS On-net call. In accordance with ITU-T Recommendation F.16 (ITU is the International Telecommunications Union), incorporated herein by reference, GVNS is a global switched service supported by multiple international networks and is offered to customers over Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and/or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). While minimizing the need for dedicated network resources, GVNS provides private network functions to users at geographically dispersed international locations. GVNS provides a customer with a virtual private network (VPN).
International calls that are not Outbound International GVNS On-net calls (of either the voice or data type) will be referred to as Other international long distance (ILD) calls. There are at least three types of Other ILD calls (for the ASN): standard ILD calls, non-GVNS data calls and international GVNS off-net calls.
A standard (ILD) call has a routing number known as an international public number (IPN). For the purposes of this patent, IPN refers to the international public telecommunications number or the international ISDN number. An IPN comprises a country code (CC) followed by a national (significant) number (NN). The NN comprises a national destination code (NDC) followed by a subscriber number (SN). The term national (significant) number is defined by the ITU, but will be referred to as the NN for the purposes of this patent. The terms NDC and SN are defined by ITU-T recommendation E.164, incorporated herein by reference.
A non-GVNS data call has the same kind of IPN routing number as a standard ILD call.
A known way of distinguishing Other ILD calls from an Outbound International GVNS On-net call is to begin the Outbound International GVNS On-net routing number with a pseudo country code (PCC). A PCC fills the same position in a routing number filled by a CC in Other ILD calls, but a PCC is a numeric code which has not been assigned to a particular geographic region or global service application by the ITUxe2x80x94Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-TSS). Because PCCs fill the same position as a CC, they can be screened efficiently by a TN both in terms of minimal additional call processing time for Other ILD calls and minimal changes to TN software. While PCCs provide an efficient means by which a TN may distinguish between Other ILD calls and Outbound International GVNS On-net calls, there are two major problems with the use of PCCs. Firstly, there are a limited number of PCCs. Secondly, a PCC can, without warning to the TN provider, be assigned (e.g., become a real CC) if the ITU-TSS so decides.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an efficient method for distinguishing between Other ILD calls and an Outbound International GVNS On-net call which would overcome the disadvantages of PCCs.
The above and other objects of the invention are accomplished by methods which provide a country code suffix (CC-suffix) whose presence after the CC in a call routing number indicates that the call should be screened as being, possibly, an Outbound International GVNS On-net call. It is desirable to minimize the number of Other ILD calls which are subject to extra screening for being, possibly, an Outbound International GVNS On-net call. Selecting a CC-suffix which comprises the national trunk prefix (NTP) or domestic application prefix digit (DAPD) insures that only a small percentage of Other ILD calls, such as are represented by mis-dialed standard ILD calls or mis-dialed non-GVNS data calls, contain the CC-suffix. The DAPD is defined as a single digit code which can only be used for the domestic applications of the terminating GVNS country. If the NTP or DAPD cannot be used, then an NDC of the receiving country which receives minimal Other ILD call traffic is selected.